When you think of New York, the first thing that comes to your mind is a city that has the latest developments in all areas. Well, at least to my mind. I thought that services here were way ahead of the services offered in "third world" countries. I was wrong...The most basic thing a mobile phone company can offer, for example, is still subject of many advertising campaigns: coverage. The carriers advertise that their technology generate less dropped calls. LESS, but the problem is still there. In Kiev, it's possible to talk in any metro station and, in some parts, between stations. Here, you have no coverage after going down 10 steps (pic).It's funny to see desperate businessmen losing their trains because they cannot go down to the platform without causing the call to drop. Moreover in a "first world" country.

Yesterday was holiday here: Thanksgiving. It is probably the most important holiday in the US. It's almost as important as Carnival for Brazilians. Maybe that explains the many similarities between them.Since I wasn't going to travel, I decided to watch the famous Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, now on its 80th edition. The Parade is the American version of the Brazilian Carnival. Besides all the joy, it's amazing how similar they are: for (almost) everything you see in Carnival there's a (sometimes better) substitute in the Parade.The first and most obvious comparison is the presence of Parade Floats (picture). The only difference between them (besides the naked women) is the traction. Instead of 6 undernourished samba dancers, a huge GMC truck. At the Parade you obviously won't find any Samba Schools, but many States send in their Marching Bands that equal the Baterias (drumming segments responsible for the rhythm). AND they have no microphones and walk much more than 0.6 miles. The Parade, just like Carnival, is divided in groups. Despite the number of Brazilian immigrants, there's no group of Baianas (Brazilian women famous for their dancing and clothing style). To compensate, they have groups of Cheerleaders. Yet another similarity: here there's also 2 people performing between the groups. Instead of the Mestre-Sala and the Porta-Bandeira (couple reponsible for bearing the flag of the Samba School), a couple of garbagemen cleaning the streets. Not even the Dolls of Olinda (famous for their huge heads) were forgotten. Many of the Historic Leaders of this country were represented by dolls with humungous heads. The only thing that you can find only here are the balloons. Every now and then, a huge inflatable balloon of a famous character (Sponge Bob, Scooby-Doo, Pikachu, Mr. Potato Head, etc.) will fly by, held by cables by a crowd.Although they don't have the swing of Samba, the Parade has a characteristic that should pose as an example for Carnival in Brazil: it's definitely a show for the masses. There are tickets needed to watch it and no special Budweiser t-shirt needed to access the VIP area (in Brazil, the main beer factories build VIP areas and demand people to wear a specific t-shirt). But that's because there's no VIP area.

If you're American, this post is not funny. And probably doesn't make any sense. But those who spent their whole lives opening doors in Brazil and Ukraine will understand me. In NY, the door locks are upside down: keyhole on top, doorknob on the bottom. It may seem like a stupid detail, but the key rotation also changes.In other words, every time you're about to lock or unlock the door, you have to pause or choose to use the trial-error method. That means you have to think like this: to open, I lock. To lock, I open. But when you're about to turn the key, somehow your hand knows the right way and you hear the clinging noise of the lock behind the door. That means you're wrong. Again.Even after extensive practice, I haven't been able to come up with a way to erase the "knowledge" obtained in 28 years of experience. I'm thinking about putting a sticker on the door...Speaking of doors, today I saw a hilarious sign at the gym. They have lots of doors to be used as emergency exits. On all of them they put a device that triggers an alarm when the door is open. Today, I looked closer at the sign and noticed that all the information is also written in Braille. It must be some City Law, but to think that a blind man will have time to read the instructions in an emergency before the crowd has run over him is too much. At least it has the alarm to guide them, like the small bell they put inside the ball for blind people who play football.